I don't really intend to make this column into a list of links that point to all of the times that I've told a particular story, asked the same question, or reached the same conclusion. There is, however, a certain amount of logic in doing so, and as the writing of this column progressed I discovered, not particularly to my surprise, that it's even somewhat unavoidable. But that's really not my intention here.

As the list of columns on the main Boidem contents page continues to grow it's hard not to find myself dealing again and again with certain topics. Though my interests are admittedly rather broad, even they tend to reach a limit, and thus a rehashing of certain topics is to be expected.

But there are two additional issue that have to be taken into account as well. First, these columns attempt to deal with the influence that digital technologies have on our lives, and (yes, I've said this before as well) as these become more and more second nature to us we realize that the ways in which they affect our lives aren't necessarily all that different from the ways that the technologies that preceded them affected us. That being the case, it's not always easy to find a topic that's waiting for something interesting to be said about it. Second, as these technologies become more and more integrated into our lives we realize that there are ultimately a limited number of basic topics around which an examination of them revolve - identity, community, learning, and maybe a few more. Yes, the various expressions of these can be endless (meaning that I can continue writing columns for quite a while yet), but we start to get the impression that using the internet as a diving board into a pool of profound observations on life may be rather dangerous. That pool may be drying up, and it's advisable to check that there's water in the pool before diving in.